->''"...5 billion people will die from a deadly virus in 1997... The survivors will abandon the surface of the planet... Once again the animals will rule the world..."'' -->-- Excerpts from interview with clinically diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, April 12, 1990, Baltimore County Hospital

''12 Monkeys'' is a 1995 science fiction film directed by Creator/TerryGilliam and written by [[Creator/DavidWebbPeoples David and Janet Peoples]]. It was based on the famous short French experimental "Film/LaJetee". It stars Creator/BruceWillis, Madeleine Stowe, and Creator/BradPitt, who won a Golden Globe for best supporting actor; Pitt was also nominated for an Academy Award in the same category.

There is a chance that James Cole is not insane. His paranoid ravings about a post-apocalyptic future in which the world has been ravaged by a deadly virus might be true, and the Army of the Twelve Monkeys might be real. The only trouble is, if Dr. Kathryn Railly accepts this, she will have to accept a terrifying truth: TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is coming... soon.

'''Beware of spoilers'''.

The film was adapted into a [[Series/TwelveMonkeys television series]] for Creator/{{Syfy}}, which premiered in January 2015.----!!This film provides examples of:

* AirVentPassageway: The absurdity of this in real life is lampshaded when Cole vanishes from a locked room, the only other exit from which is a air vent that has not been forced open and into which he could not possibly fit.* AfterTheEnd: Cole's 'present'.* AllJustADream: Probably not, but possible. There are some hints: ** 1. James believes he may be delusional and his lack of social skills and ability to remember minute details are evidence. Likewise we get no explanation as to where the voice he hears is coming from and why people from his present keep showing up at random times. ** 2. There are a lot of similarities between the present prison and the past hospital. Most notably the guards and panel of doctors from each timeline. Plus the time machine is strikingly similar to the CT Scanner the camera focuses on for longer than seems necessary. ** 3. We never get any explanation as to how the few remaining survivors, who have no immunity to the virus, managed to build an intricate underground city and have the capability of building a time machine but have no apparent source of food, water, or even breathable air. * AnimalMotifs: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Monkeys]].* AnimalWrongsGroup: The Army of the Twelve Monkeys is an animal rights group blamed for the spread of a deadly super-virus that killed most of humanity. [[spoiler: They end up having [[RedHerring nothing to do with it]].]]* ApocalypseCult: The film follows a time traveler from plague-devastated 2035 sent back to 1996 to prevent an apocalyptic group known as the Army of the Twelve Monkeys from releasing the virus. [[spoiler: The Army of the Twelve Monkeys didn't actually release the virus; their great act of subversion was freeing animals from a zoo. The virus was actually released by an assistant at the lab where it was developed]].* ApocalypseHow: Class 2.* ArcWords: "The Keys are lovely this time of year."* BeautyInversion: Brad Pitt manages to look convincingly homely and unkempt for the majority of the film.* BedlamHouse: Averted. The protagonist is confined to a regular psychiatric hospital, and not to some sort of Arkham Asylum.* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Cole is killed and 99% of humanity is about to go with him, but he did successfully locate the pure sample of the virus, and one of the scientists was able to collect it (although only through contaminating herself with it, and she could well die from it if it takes more than a few weeks to create a cure).]]* BookEnds: The film begins and concludes with [[spoiler:closeups of the main character when he was a child.]]* CantTakeAnythingWithYou: It seems the rule is you can't take anything that is ''external'' to your body. Cole gets the spider he swallowed back to the future just fine and the bullet that gets lodged in his leg time travels with him as well.* CassandraTruth: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]].* ChewingTheScenery: Creator/BradPitt goes somewhat over-the-top in his scenes in the madhouse, but it works.* ChekhovsGunman: A rather creepy but otherwise very important character is introduced midway through who [[spoiler: turns out to be the guy who spread the virus.]]* CloudCuckoolander: Jeffrey. It is implied that it is at least somewhat ObfuscatingInsanity.* ContagiousCassandraTruth: The film has an interesting variation of this trope. Dr. Railly doesn't believe James Cole's claims that he's from the future, but when he disappears she investigates his claims and finds corroborating evidence. When Cole returns Dr. Railly has difficulty convincing Cole of the truth, as he has accepted her explanation that he is delusional.* CoversAlwaysLie: At first glance it sure looks like a cyborg on the cover. It's not until you look closer that you see it's the symbol of the Army of the 12 Monkeys.* CryingWolf: Part of what convinces Kathryn that Cole's telling the truth is he remembers hearing as a child about a boy who pretended to be lost in a well, only to turn out to have been hiding in a barn. The event plays out as he remembers, indicating he's [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness probably]] telling the truth.%%* CuckooNest* DemotedMemories: Late in the film, Cole starts to believe he really is just an escaped schizophrenic and not a time-traveler.* DepravedDentist: Cole inflicts this on himself because he believes that they track time travelers with devices implanted in their teeth. [[spoiler:A subsequent conversation with another time-traveler implies he was right, but that they're able to locate Cole without his teeth, and the time traveler is confused as to why Cole pulled them out in the first place.]] It also seriously confuses the crook whom Cole had beaten up earlier:--> Hey... is that the cops? I'm an innocent victim in here! I was attacked by a coked up whore and a - a fuckin' crazy dentist!* {{Doomsayer}}: Several of these, who may or may not be time travelers who have gone insane.%%* DownerEnding* DramaticIrony: "I'm in insurance."* DreamingOfThingsToCome: [[StableTimeLoop Kinda.]]* DullSurprise: Bruce Willis, which is very well {{justified}} by his character being either heavily sedated or emotionally traumatized for most of the movie. In addition, it provides a perfect contrast for Creator/BradPitt's [[LargeHam maniacal bombast]].* TheEndIsNigh: One of these people stops his ranting to address the main character whilst in [[TheNineties '96]]. It's implied that many doomsayers are actually time travelers scattered throughout history who have gone insane.* EiffelTowerEffect: Philadelphia's skyline, particularly [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Place Liberty Place]], is seen quite a bit, it's also rather large.* EscapedAnimalRampage: The final act shows the eponymous Animal Wrongs Group releasing the animals of the local zoo, causing all sorts of pandemonium [[spoiler: and their "we did it!" message spray-painted all over the city setting them up as the RedHerring for the cause of TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]* GaiasVengeance: The purpose of the virus is to restore the natural world by eradicating mankind. The Army of the Twelve Monkeys, an AnimalWrongsGroup, are the culprits. [[spoiler:[[RedHerring Only they aren't]]. The real culprit is a creepy assistant in ChristopherPlummer's virology lab.]]* GasMaskMooks: The French soldiers when James is accidentally sent to 1917. It's mentioned later that they were countering a mustard gas attack that killed thousands of Jews * GirlOfMyDreams: Cole has repeating dreams of a woman who resembles his psychiatrist, but the recurring dream was caused by [[spoiler:a childhood memory of seeing something horrible happen to his time-traveling future self and his lover.]]* GenericGraffiti: The Army of the 12 Monkeys tags the walls around their base with graffiti shaped like a ring of 12 monkeys.* GoAmongMadPeople: The protagonist (a man from the post-apocalyptic future sent back in time to try to prevent an unprecedented disaster) can't function in modern society and is quickly institutionalized, where his claims of being a time traveler from the future don't really help. He spends much of the rest of the movie more than half convinced that his memories of time travel are just a fantasy.* GraffitiOfTheResistance: The Army of the Twelve Monkeys is a terrorist organization blamed for spreading a deadly super-virus that caused [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the destruction of most of humanity]]. When [[Creator/BruceWillis James Cole]] is sent back in time for intelligence and [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong attempts to stop them]] against orders, he uses the Army's graffiti depicting twelve monkeys in a ring to locate them. [[spoiler:In the end this trope gets subverted, since the Army is actually just an animal rights group that had nothing to do with the virus]].* HereWeGoAgain* TheHeroDies: Cole is killed before he can stop the virus from being unleashed on the world* HospitalHottie: Dr. Kathryn Railly. * IdiotBall: The airport security guard. When a scientist has a specially sealed case and tells you the vials inside contain "biological samples", what in the name of sanity would make you want him to ''open'' it?** Especially if one can see that there is nothing but colorless gas inside.%%* JustBeforeTheEnd* LargeHam: Brad Pitt's acting is gloriously over-the-top.* TheLawOfConservationOfDetail: During Dr. Railly's speech she briefly shows an etching of a man from the 1100s proclaiming the end of the world in 1995. Later on when James arrives in 1996 you see that man preaching on the side of a street corner. Also another example is a phone message heard by Cole in the 'present' [[spoiler: is later found out to be made by Dr. Railly.]]* MadOracle: It's implied that at least one such oracle is actually a time traveler who landed in the wrong era, since he sees James and says: "You! You are one of us!"* MeanwhileInTheFuture: There are characters communicating with scientists in the future with a business's answering machine in the "present", which a team of scientists spend months and years recovering from the decayed magnetic tape. While the continuity is well-explained, the interaction between future and present, even with the time machine, is relatively sequential.* MindScrew: For the viewer, although by the end it becomes comprehensible. Also, for James, [[spoiler: who starts to think he really is insane and that he imagined traveling from the future. It's mentioned that this happens to all time travelers.]] Finally, for [[spoiler: Katherine, first as she starts to realize that James must have come from the future, and later when she starts to "remember" things that never actually happened (when they put on the disguises and she says he looks familiar.)]]* MisanthropeSupreme: The villains, who engineer a lethal virus.* MisplacedWildlife: Cole encounters a lion in the city while collecting samples in the future. [[spoiler: Releasing zoo animals was the Army Of The Twelve Monkeys' real plan.]]* MobstacleCourse: The climax takes place in such a scene at the airport.* {{Mooning}}: Jeffrey Goines does this to the security staff at a mental institution while acting up.* MusicalSpoiler: The first clue of [[spoiler:Brad Pitt]]'s involvement with the Army of the 12 Monkeys is when the "12 Monkeys" {{leitmotif}} plays during one of his rants.* NeverMyFault: Cole has no control over what year the machine sends him to, but when he ends up in 1990 instead of 1996, the scientists blame that mistake on him.* NonIndicativeName: As [[CausticCritic Mr. Cranky]] asks in his review, "[[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Where are the monkeys?]]"* NoTellMotel: Cole and his psychiatrist visit one to work out just what the hell is going on with their lives in privacy.* OhCrap: Near the end of the film, [[spoiler: Railly calls the phone number Cole gave her. She comes back and starts reciting the message she left...only for Cole to remember it as the tape recording in the future, reciting it with her. This causes both of them to realize that he was telling the truth and that the world is about to end.]]* OnceMoreWithClarity: [[spoiler:The ending is a repeat of the beginning, cluing the audience in that the film is a StableTimeLoop.]]* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Dr. Railly pronounces "advertisement" in a way no American ever would. Ironic since the actress, Madeleine Stowe, is American.* PersonAsVerb: Cole is referred to as having "pulled a Houdini." He was a time traveler, and got pulled back out of impossible-to-escape restraints.* PhotographicMemory: Or something like it. Cole is selected for the expeditions because, although mentally disturbed, he possesses an extremely accurate memory for details and information, and at one point is able to recite a distorted message word-for-word after hearing it once, days earlier.* ThePlague: The virus, which is virulent enough to force the remaining survivors underground.* PlagueMaster: The antagonist released a deadly plague in multiple cities across the world which ended up causing the human survivors to live underground.* PokeThePoodle: It is revealed that the horrifyingly evil plot of The Army of the Twelve Monkeys [[spoiler:amounts to releasing some animals from a zoo, which stops traffic, but no more]].* PunctuatedForEmphasis: NO! MORE! MONKEY! BUSINESS!!!* RapeAsBackstory: The prison board briefly lists Cole's criminal record, which includes "antisocial sex." It's not elaborated upon, but he has violent episodes throughout the movie. While there's never any sign he intends to rape anyone, * RayOfHopeEnding: [[spoiler:Protagonist James Cole, a time traveler from AfterTheEnd, dies trying (and failing) to stop the villain from releasing the virus that triggers TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. But in the next scene, another time traveler appears in disguise to speak with the villain -- implying that, thanks to Cole's work, the scientists of the future will finally get a pure sample of the virus so they can make a vaccine. The past can't be changed, but the future can still be saved.]]* RedHerring: [[spoiler: The Army of the Twelve Monkeys didn't release the virus.]]* ReluctantPsycho: Cole's generally relatively calm, if confused, but he has some violent outbursts that suggest that he might be a prisoner for good reason.* RuinsOfTheModernAge: James' trip into the ruins of Philadelphia.* TheSchizophreniaConspiracy: Jeffrey Goines is a paranoid schizophrenic, while James Cole is a man sent back in time to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong save the Future from a viral plague]] but everyone assumes he's a paranoid schizophrenic because he claims he was sent back in time to save the Future from a viral plague. Additionally, most of the other patients at the hospital Cole was at were quite paranoid or [[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/12_Monkeys#Dialogue delusional]].* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler:Ultimately, James does not stop the virus and dies in front of his child self.]]%%* ShootTheShaggyDog* ShoutOut: Cole and Railly attend a Hitchcock movie marathon just before they go to the airport.* SignificantMonogram: James Cole.* SinisterTangoMusic: The title theme is also the leitmotif of the Army of the 12 Monkeys, the AnimalWrongsGroup believed responsible for causing the apocalypse. It's written and performed by legendary tango musician Astor Piazzolla.* SocietyMarchesOn: The depiction of 1990s airport security is accurate. Today, [[spoiler:Dr. Peters]] would never would've gotten the vials past them. Likewise, in a post-9/11 and PATRIOT Act world, a virologist with top level clearance suddenly taking a trip around the globe to many of the world's major ports would've raised flags to the FBI, Homeland Security, and numerous other agencies. And Railly's accusations about him at the airport would've been investigated no matter ''how'' crazy she seemed.* SoundtrackDissonance: One of the most glorious examples.%%* StableTimeLoop* StockholmSyndrome: Someone suggests to Kathryn Railly that she is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome after she puts James Cole's multiple killings in context by saying that the victims were thugs who had tried to kill them both.* [[{{Spoiler}} Subtitles Always Spoil]]: Some versions of the movie have subtitles that label the voice on the recording [[spoiler:"Kathryn's voice"]], despite Cole specifically saying the voice was unidentifiable later in the movie.* ThisIsMyChair: Candidate for TropeNamer is the mentally insane Jeffrey Goines, who reacts like the loon he is when he sees another patient seated in his favorite chair.* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: The longer James stays in one timeline, the more he begins to doubt his memories of the other one.* TrackingChip: The main character is told that he has a tracking chip in his teeth.* [[{{Irony}} Tragic Irony]]: [[spoiler:"I've done my job, I did what you wanted. Good luck. I'm not coming back."]]* TheUnreveal: [[spoiler:Who, or what, the voice who keep addressing Cole as "Bob" are is never revealed.]]* UnreliableNarrator: Cole's memory of what happened at the airport is hazy because [[spoiler:he was a boy at the time]].* UnstuckInTime: Happens with Cole getting lost in the past because the time machine used is very unreliable and unpredictable.%%* TheVirus%%* WhatYearIsThis* WholePlotReference: To ''Film/LaJetee'', a French New Wave film made up entirely of still images.* WigDressAccent: Used at the end, when the protagonists use store bought disguises (a glued on mustache for the man and a blonde wig for the woman) to [[spoiler:get through airport security and escape to Florida.]]* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: All the time travelers go insane from the stresses involved in time travel; hence government use of expendable prisoners for this task.* WriteBackToTheFuture: As Cole prepares to travel from the future, he is given the telephone number of an answering machine whose tape was found in archaeological research; the whole end-of-the-world problem ensured the tape was not erased for reuse.* YouCantFightFate: {{Played straight}}.* YouAreTooLate: Even if Cole hadn't been shot down by airport security and had succeeded in taking down the rogue scientist, the virus had already been released to the Airport Security Guard.----